Category: Lucy Rowan Weaving Studio

December at Lucy Rowan Weaving Studio

06/12/2024

Today we were preparing pieces for the Conolade House Christmas Pop up shop. I just finished off a load of baubles and eye masks. Then I started planning various workshops Lucy could prepare for before she has her baby. Then she wouldn’t need to worry so much when she’s busy with the baby. Having projects people can pay for would ensure she would get cash flow without having to do 101 things.

13/12/2024

This morning I completed more research. I fear Lucy wants to get a lot done before her baby, however, having worked with her she’s not the most time efficient. I wonder if she will be able to achieve all of this. It’s also quite difficult finding a gap in the market for online teaching. Saying this it makes a lot of sense to be able to make money when not working.

After a couple of hours, we joined some other creatives for a Christmas lunch. Lucy really kindly paid for my lunch. I was nervous for the lunch as it was a load of couples, however, tried to remind myself it’s a good opportunity to chat to more people and get to know local creatives. I was really proud of myself for going.

20/12/2024

The last day working with Lucy. Gosh time has flown. If I am honest I was quite glad I was ending my time with her. I felt out of all my placements I had learnt the least. I often felt as if it was a pain I was there. The tasks I was given were chosen on the day and didn’t benefit Lucy in any way. I often felt as though I had no purpose or that I wasn’t good enough. I am a massive over thinker, people have told me not to worry. But, I want to feel as though I have helped her and that me being there has been beneficial. I will really miss the view of the sea from the studio.

I finished sewing in the ends to a few pieces I had woven and watched Lucy set up her new Mirrix Loom.

November with Lucy Rowan

08/11/2024

Lucy is selling all of her table looms, so the first task was to get one of the looms being sold ready to go. I took off the coasters I had been working on. After the loom was downstairs I started tying in the ends of the coasters. This took some time as there were 10 to complete.

I then continued weaving on the floor loom. The warp never ends! I feel as though I am becoming more playful and appreciate the freedom she gives me.

I mentioned creating woven bags as a workshop idea she could complete, Lucy really liked the idea so ordered some supplies for next week so we can test it out.

15/11/2024

Today we experimented by weaving round a box to make a bag. It was fun problem solving together and seeing how customisable the bags were. It was quite difficult to weave the yarn through near the end as the tension was then very tight. We decided we made the spacing too close and should have been more relaxed about it.

After this I continued weaving on the floor loom… the warp doesn’t seem to end! Lastly, I collected the loom that Lucy was giving me. Quite a few people asked me about it as I was walking to my car and it only just about fit!

22/11/2024

Today I wrote another blog for Lucy’s website, The Weavers Gift Guide. It was a lot of fun curating a range of products that I found useful or that could be useful or fun! I then continued weaving on the floor loom, with hopes of it coming off that day. However, time ran out and there was still MORE!

You can now see the sea more clearly now the scaffolding is down! My ideal studio…

29/11/2024

Today I took all of my weaving off the loom. I then hand the task of setting it up again. I did enjoy it, however forgot to tie the cross sticks to the loom, so they stayed at the back of the length of yarn. It’s not the end of the world, and is something I shall remember for next time.

October with Lucy Rowan

04/10/2024

• Today was my second day at my 3 month placement with Lucy in Worthing. I am really enjoying myself. Having a shorter day is nice on a Friday.
• It’s been nice working in such a friendly setting.
• Don’t believe I am going to gain loads in terms of weaving, but useful to learn about the weaving business. It shall be beneficial. The room looks out onto the sea, it’s beautiful.

• This week I completed some tapestry weaving. Lucy wanted me to make a bookmark for a pop up Christmas shop that Colonnade House shall be hosting. This was the first time I had done tapestry weaving… I wasn’t a fan. It took way too long to complete that it frustrated me. I was just constantly thinking how can spending 4 hours on a bookmark be worth while. There is only going to be a certain point that people are willing to pay for a bookmark. It’s then not worth your time.
  

11/10/2024

• Today I set up the loom so I could make 5 coasters at the same time. Having learnt from last week that tapestry weaving was not worth our while with products such as coasters and book marks we decided to experiment with the loom.
• The process was slightly faster, however, where I was having to change threads for each coaster it took longer than expected. I decided that it would be much quicker to create a thin warp where I could focus on one coaster at a time.

• I was slightly disappointed, as I was meant to set up a loom today. However, with one of the looms already set up it made sense to weave with that.
  

18/10/2024

• Today I set up some tools for a workshop that Lucy was going to be teaching at the Maltings on the weekend.
• After I had completed this I continued weaving the remaining coasters on the loom. After I had finished, I proceeded with the wall hanging weaving.
• I am worried I am not learning loads, I had expected that I would have been taught how to add more texture into the weaving etc. However, I haven’t and have just been practicing skills I already know.